Rotherham United v Sheffield Wednesday: Warne dismayed at lack of interest in video shows

A perceptive and intelligent man, the Rotherham United interim manager is detecting that trait among some of the club’s players .

Even accounting for the fact that the Millers are enduring a horrendous grind of a season, it is something that does not sit comfortably with him.

Safe to say that if he is entrusted with the permanent manager’s role at the club – with an announcement to be made on the matter tomorrow – those individuals who do not possess an innate drive to better themselves and conscientiously improve will probably not play a part in his brave new world.

As a player, Warne was the first to admit that he was limited in terms of his own ability. But he more than compensated for that with a relentless work ethic and painstaking desire to be the best professional that he could.

It would be wholly accurate to suggest that he believes that there are not enough of those types of characters in the current Millers squad and it is a culture and mindset that he is determined to change, if he has his way, at any rate.

Warne said: “We give the players video clips and I say to them, ‘Come and knock on my door and I will go through them with you’.

“In an ideal world, I would have a group of players where everyone wants to watch the clips with the manager because if they watch them on their own, they can convince themselves of anything. But I need them to watch them with me so I can tell them what they did right and wrong.

“I think the club should have players where they all want to knock on your door and want to get better, not be in a rush to go home. I know that is a romantic view.

“I am disappointed with a few that have not knocked on my door. At the moment, I am just fighting fires. If I fought those battles head on, I could lose two or three players in the changing room, so I don’t think it is a fight worth having now.”

The current impression of the Millers is of a club who are suffering from an identity crisis – they have had six different faces in the dug-out since the start of last season – and a club whose recruitment has been largely muddled in the pursuit of short-term fixes.

Factor in significant issues regarding the club’s current training ground infrastructure and it all sadly contributes to a perception of a culture of failure, which Warne is keen to address, head on, as he seeks to build the club again from the bottom up.

He added: “If we do develop the training ground and there are the dressing rooms here and there are the food (facilities) here then we can do (extra) stuff in the afternoon. We could do that now, but logistically it is not easy.

“We want the lads to be around a bit more, and all the staff here; at the moment we are all piloting off in different directions. It is all over the place.

“If the training ground develops, which I am told is going to happen, and we get young, hungry players in who really want to improve, we can just get a completely different culture of learning and improving. I don’t feel like it has been like that this season.”

Warne is having to live in the here and now with his Millers side heading into this evening’s derby with Sheffield Wednesdayon the back of an eight-match losing league sequence.

It is a club record-equalling run and the present-day Millers will enter the record books in their own right for all the wrong reasons should the Owls triumph.

Rotherham will also be conscious of another damning statistic ahead of kick-off with the club not having beaten Wednesday in 10 attempts on home soil in the league since Dick Habbin earned them a 1-0 victory at Millmoor in March 1976.

In a season when the numbers have stacked up against the Millers at almost every turn, ending that particular sequence would ease their pain a little.

Warne, whose side last tasted victory on January 14 and have lost 12 of their past 13 league matches, added: “It would be good for my life if we won a football match and, if we won it against Sheffield Wednesday, then it would be even better. It would be good for the players.

“I have got great memories of playing against Sheffield Wednesday, I know how much it means to people.

“I have still got people coming up to me commenting on certain games and goals.

“I was telling the lads that it might not mean a lot to them now, but when you get to 40 and if you are lucky enough to score in a local derby like this, you will always be held in high regard by the fans.

“If we can win and give the fans something to smile about, then that would be nice.”

Last six matches: Rotherham LLLLLL Sheffield Wednesday LWDLLD.

Referee: T Harrington (Cleveland).

Last time: Rotherham 1 Sheffield Wednesday 2; October 23, 2015; Championship.